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First 5,000 Carats Achieved from Trial Mining at Baoulé Kimberlite, Guinea
Stellar Diamonds plc, the London listed (AIM: STEL) diamond development company focused on West Africa, has announced an operational update from trial mining at its 75% owned, five hectare Baoulé kimberlite pipe in Guinea.
Highlights:
· Trial mining has yielded a total of 5,087 carats to date at an average grade of 13.5 cpht
· High quality gems continue to be recovered, including stones of 12.6 carat and 10.0 carat
· First sale of 733 gem quality carats from Baoulé last month realised $195,000 for an average value of $266 per carat (which formed part of a larger sale of 4,414 carats)
· Included in this sale was a 5.55 carat stone which sold for US$5,000 per carat and several stones which exceeded US$1,000 per carat underpinning the high value and quality of some Baoulé gems
· Next diamond sale planned for May 2015
· Objective to recover a total of 15,000 carats to complete the trial mining phase and provide a basis for deciding whether to advance Baoulé to commercial scale mining
· JORC Resource to be confirmed on completion of trial mining. Current in-house estimate of 3.3 million carats based on previous drilling and average target grade of 15cpht
Stellar Diamonds Chief Executive Karl Smithson commented:
“Good progress continues to be made from trial mining at Baoulé. Our objective is to produce 15,000 carats from this exercise to enable us to determine the grade, value and presence of large stones in the pipe, with a view to using this information to consider a decision to advance Baoulé to commercial scale mining. It is pleasing that we have achieved our maiden revenues following the first diamond sale from Baoulé, as well as other Stellar projects. We are currently planning the next export and sale of Baoulé goods and remain committed to targeting additional diamond sales throughout 2015. I look forward to updating shareholders on progress as we continue the trial mining programme at Baoulé and in the process increase our cashflow.”
Trial mining of the eastern lobe of the Baoulé kimberlite pipe has continued during the first quarter of 2015. In order to maximise the pit area in preparation for the second 3m cut, mining progressed towards the eastern and southern margin of the pipe where a lower grade contact breccia was recently encountered, reducing the average grade to 13.5cpht at a 1.25mm cut off. This has resulted in fewer carats being produced than anticipated at this point in time, but mining and processing of the second cut is expected to see a return to higher grades, based on the results realised from the first cut of the lobe.
Simultaneous to this mining, stripping of the western lobe of the pipe has commenced in advance of the rainy season. Overburden and ground disturbed by diamond diggers is currently being stripped to access the uncontaminated kimberlite in preparation for bulk sampling.
The processing plant is running at a steady state average capacity of approximately 50 tonnes per hour over a double shift (16 hours). The kimberlite material remains predominantly weathered, however some harder blocks of kimberlite are being encountered. Since these blocks are too hard to scrub but are also too soft to efficiently crush, they are being sent to an oversize stockpile where they are broken down with an excavator prior to being re-fed into the plant to ensure maximum diamond liberation and integrity of results.
The overall objective of the trial mining exercise is to produce up to 15,000 carats for grade and diamond value determination of the Baoulé pipe.
